***
Was a wonderful winter once.
Perhaps the warmest of times.
A white wonderland waltz,
With temperatures negative 35,
With no scarfs, no gloves, no thoughts,
Their first kiss in falling snow
Over the windswept ice,
Observed by the last dinosaurs –
The beluga, an ancient swimmer,
A shadow of earliest seas,
In the blue of the Volga river,
Dazed by the wax yellow dress
Of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral,
Perhaps the yellowest of all yolks,
With It’s onion domes dipped in honey,
Octagonal drums like rhubarb.
Was the time when the Nizhny Fair
Thundered across the world,
The currents of trade were swelling—
Like the Volga after the storm.
Cherny chai arrived from China
On camels and winter sleds,
Russians got used to saucers,
Samovar started its way.
Was one problem persisting always,
In the spring, during the floods,
The quay would be deep in water,
Streets would become canals.
Due to the difficult soil,
The cathedral was build on a raft,
Made of a thousand oak trees,
Placed in a huge clay ‘tub’.
The beluga, an ancient swimmer,
Stopped to see the kiss by the church,
Got amazed by the tea ceremony,
Broke the ice, растопила лёд!
